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Telecommunication; Telephone Communicatons Television ... · discussion and dialog. Communication,...
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DOCUMENT RESUME
ED 109 717 CS 501 087
AUTHOR Barber, Richard J.; And 4Dthers
TITLE Issues in CoMmunication Planning for Hawaii.
INSTITUTION Hawaii Research Center for Futures Study,
Honolulu.PUB DATE 75NOTE 56p.
EDRS PRICEDESCRIPTORS
IDENTIFIERS
ABSTRACT
MF-$0.76 HC-$3.32 PLUS POSTAGE*Communications; Communication Satellites; Delivery
Systems; Information Netwoika; *Mass Media;Newspapers; Periodicals; RadiO; *Statewide Planning;Telecommunication; Telephone Communicatons Industry;
Television*Hawaii
Focusing on the resources necessary to serve Hawaii's
present and future communication needs, this paper considers both the
problems and the possibilities for communications developments during
the next 50 years. Specific topics covered in the paper includecommunication needs, resources and technology (telephone, radio,
television, newspapers, periodicals, postal service, telegraph),
policy (state, interisland, long distance, intercultural, research),
and planning issues. A bibliography lists both specific and general
references. (JM)
c.
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U S DEPARTMENT OF NEVI TNEDUCATION & WELFARENTIONAL INSTITUTE OF
EDUCATiON.VFN' , A I
r'F',C^Ninr? ^u .Ak1 AN
'N., Dr, Yr,' ..r r 4f rqt
ISSUES IN COMMUNICATIONPLANNING FOR HAWAII
Richard J. RafbcrDonald J. GraccL. S. Harmsinn Richstad
c
Ati OCCASION:\ I PAPFR OF!III IIA1t All RI SI \RCM ( IA II R I OR I t I ('RI'S STUDY
IRA01 t 197
ISSUES IN COMMUNICATION PLANNING FOR HAWAII
PERMISSION TO PEPPODuCE -THIS COPY
FEK,NTED MATE RIAL HAS BEEN CHANTED BY
Hawaii Research Centerfor Futures Study
TO E {IR AND ONOANWATioNL, OPEFLATINCLLLNI-LER ALLHEI ME Nis, WITH THE NATIONAL IN',Mutt OF EOU( A TiON FORTHEN HEPPE,
DUB DON ut.ITYCrf THE ERIE NY STEM RE
QUIPt S, PE RMINY,IoN If THE LOPYPIE,HT
oLNNE
An Occasional Paper of the Hawaii Research Center forFutures Study, Social Sciences and Linguistic Institute,University of Hawaii, 2424 Maile Way 11704, Honolulu,
Hawaii 96822
Copyright 0 1975 by the Hawaii Research Center for
Futures Study.
Produced with the assistance of a grant from the
Hawaii Bicentennial Commission, Horizons Committee
Biographical Notes:
Richard J. Barber is the Acting Diector of the HawaiiResearch Center for Futures Study and the Assistant
to the Director of the Social Sciences and Linguisticsinstitute, University of Hawaii.
Donald J. Grace, Director of the Center for EngineeringResearch, College of Engineering, University of Hawaii,
was instrumental in the development of a two-way, four-channel television teaching system for Stanford University,
California.
L. S. Harms, Professor of Communication, University of Hawaii,is currently involved in a long range project on thedevelopment of world communication rights.
Jim Richstad, Pssociate Researcher with the East-WestCommunication Institute, Honolulu, Hawaii, currentlyserves as ':xecutive Director to the HonoluluCommunity-edin Council.
3
PHI 'ACE
Communication Planning for Hawaii is a project of
the Hawaii Research Center for Futures Study supportedby the Horizons Committee of the Hawaii Bicentennial
Commission. Related activity will continue during 1975
and 1976 through a series of public discussions on the
issues raised in and developed from this document.
While the responsibility for this paper is shared
by only a few persons, valuable input over the past.year has been made by a number of individuals. Through
the Hawaii Research Center for Futures Study and itsparent organization the Social Sciences and LinguisticsInstitute of the University of Hawaii, related discussions
have been held regarding communication/transportationtradeoffs, experiments in the use of two-way cabletelevision, and comm'Unication policy questions.
Thanks are due to Anson Chong, Horizons CommitteeChairperson, and to David Holt and Mike Kilinski,WICHE interns with the Bicentennial Horizons Committee.
A special note of thanks should also go toKathleen. Ayumi Kie for her dedicated work as researcher'
and manuscript typist.
Copies of the first draft of this paper were sent
for comment to the following persons:
Norman Abramson, Professor of Electrical. Enz-ineering,
University of HawaiiKaren Ah Mai, Research Associate, ALOHA System,
University of HawaiiLawrence S. L3erger, President, KHVH
Kennetn Brown, former Hawaii State Senator
John Bystrom, Director, PEACESAT, University of Hawaii
George Chaplin, Editor-in-Chief, Honolulu AdvertiserAnson Chong, Hawaii State Senator and Chairman of
Bicentennial Horizons CommitteeGodwin Onu, Researcher, East-West Communication Tnstitute
James A. Dator, Professor of Political Science,University of Hawaii
Hobert EnFlebardt, Sorvice Director, Hawaiian Telephone
CompanyEdward r]reaney, Prods Secretary, Office of the Governor,
State of HawaiiDick Grimm, General IlanaFer, KITVJanet iiarada, Citizens for Community Cable
Stanley Harter, Communication Officer, State of Hawaii
,Ts
',ieorre , cience,r
Aivisory Council ontne Internatio.lal :ei,tions or the Univrsity of
Hawaiihider° Dir(,cT.or, A 7.11 'tat ,
Department of Planning
and F.conorj,: ievelop;1-nt
Ja ies L. 1,Q0"11.3, trctor, ffice (DI' Information andComplaint, AI,y and County of Honolulu
Th,26dore irrill, resident, Statewide Telephone UsersCom::ittee
Wayne State Department ofPer7ulatory Agencies
:red :lorris, Jr., President, Tele-Sciences CorporationWashinrton,
dosco Nedelcovic, President, Basic I velihood CorporationGlenn Paige, Political Scientist, ;:ocial Sciences and
Linguistic, institute, University of HawaiiCostakis Papacc,tas, Assistant Professor of Civil
riivers_Ity of Hawaii
Sy-d A. ahl:1, .2.,care-nAssociate, Fast-West Communication
Institut-Don Hi6b, Iariaer, rHFL fitdio.;11Lar Scuram.,1, 7ast-West Communication Institute
A. Am",-,r, Honolulu Star-Bulletin.Lloyd Sommeriad, Cnif, Division of Communication
Pesearch and. Folicies, 1:1ESCO, ParisPatric.: Takahashi, i'ssistant r'rofessor- of Civil Engineering,
University of HawilDonald .-Dpping, Director, ::nci-d Sciences and Linguistics
Institute, University of HawaiiLewis Walkup, ScientistSin ;edemeyer, qrauate Sthdent, Annenberg School of
';ommlnications, jniversity of Southern California
Yamaia, :.structor, 5p,2ecn-Comr.lunIcation, Leeward
co=unity olltnt
ThL draft 571h-r was .iscussed at a meeting of theAdvisory -ohn..:1, on the !nternational Relations of theTIniverolti and at an !:]ectrical Pni;ineering Seminar.
the several do7,0n persons in those groupsto us In our revion process.
tre e, ,-Ialiy gra,,e'ul for the extensive comments
reet2ived fro, 1,obe-, Hn;,ler, fl-inberg, Fred Morris,
Jr., to Dan ,1(,:(:wyer.
r,
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
Problems and Possibilities in Hawaii 1
Communication as a Planned Resource 3
The Key Question 3
COMMUNICATION NEEDS
Human Needs -5
Communication Needs 6
Present Practices 8
Areas of Communication Needs 10'
COMMUNICATION RESOURCES AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY
Classes of Communication 13
Historical Overview 14
Telephone Service in Hawaii 16
Broadcast Radio and Television 20
Cable Television 21
Newspapers and Periodicals 22
Postal Service 22
Telegraph Service 23
Other Communications Media 23
Wired City 24
Home Information Center 25
Technology Research. , 26
Applications Research 28
COMMUNICATION POLICY
Policy in the CommuniCation Era 29
Shaping Policy for Hawaii 31
Inter-Island Communication 32
Distant Commuriication 34
Intercultural Communication '35
Discussion and Research Questions 36
Policy Development in Hawaii 39
COMMUNICATION PLANNING ISSUES
Specific Issues 43
Anticipatory Democracy 45
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Specifi ',uferencos 46
General :sources 49
iii
IN
by design, tnis paper on Issues in CommunicationPlanning for is "in process." Its purpose is to
continue tee effort in "anticipatory democrdcy" begun
oy the Conference on Hawaii 2000 with a special focus
on communication planning. This paper,and.the seriesof public discussions now underway is supported by the::orizons Committee of the Hawaii Bicentennial Commission.
The discussion is focussed on the communicationresources necessary to serve the communication needs ofeveryone--present and future--in Hawaii. A communicationccference to summarize the discussion and proposerecommendations is planned for spring 1976. Lt that
time, it should se possible to complete these first stepstoward what we hope will be a Continuing citizen inputinto the long- range planning process.'
Throughout the discussion in this paper an attempt
will be made to identify and/or define the communicationpolicy, services, operational requirements arid facilities
to Jupport tne communication needs developed. Oftentimes
communication needs and telecommunications operationalrequirements become so intertwined as to cause confusion.
confusion can lead to misunderstandings between the
jfJcial science planner and the "hard" science technologist/planner as tney strive to define issues and evolve policy
recommendations.
Problems and Possibilities in Hawaii
Can those of us who live in Hawaii plan our futures?
ire but a small part of the world, about 6,425 squaremiles in a world of 77,506,000 square miles of land and
.inotler 13),5nri,010 square miles of ocean. Fewer than a
-million people li'ie here; there are nearly four billion
1,eople on earth. :i0V1 much influence can such a community
heve on the decision.n which affect its future?
ea .'all a state of the United States pfd yet is
not providr,j equal treatment under U. S. law and regula-
lon with the 7,ainland states in provisioning of tele-5erv:ces. Fn recent years we have aecor.;:2
:Ire interdependent witn other places
). 11,t1 interdependence leads to prublems2'; in ,.asolin,, shortages and to-
,1!Ut-: J.:1 those in,wrent in satellite communl-
A frequent visitor t,(. Hawaii, Robert Theobald,urges us to consider both our problems and our possibili-
ties. Theobald also forecasts a major role for Hawaii
as a, Communication Center during- the next half century- -
a time he calls tne Communication Era (TheLbald and :Mott,1972.)-.
Another frequent visitor, John McHale, points out
tnat today few major problems anywhere in the world areentirely local ones. Population growth, ocean and airpollution, energy reserves and other problems are world-
wide in scope. While we can participate in the solutionof these problems, in most cases, we cannot solve themLy ourselves--even as they affect us'in Hawaii.
But we nave major possibilities as well, and some
of these possibilities are new ones. One such possibilityis to be found in the area of communication: in Hawaii,
our communication resources can become abundant. Today,
we can have available almost any communications technologywe require to serve our communication needs. We can have
almost anything we need, but we cannot have everythingwe want. Economic and other realities influence technolo-
Cical developments. Even so, this is a new, different,and remarkably important state of affairs. iost of tree
thinking to date has assumed a scarcity of resources.
At the same time, we now begin to know how to onapecommunication policy to ensure that communicationstechnology does indeed serve human needs (International
broadcast Institute, 1974). But there is a catch: we
do not know enough about human communication needs to
define technical and operational requirements.
We believe that one good way to find out aboutcommunication needs in Hawaii is to ask each other- -
seriously, carefully, and systematically--in a series
of public discussions to define, point out, or presentexamples of our communication needs. We hope to obtainthe broadest possible participation in these discussions.Thus, it is our intent to continue the Hawaii 20(E)
discussion and dialog.
Communication, communications and telecommunIcation(s)are terms whicn are often used interchangeably, sometimescausing a bit of confusion. We have tried to oe co rsistent
in this paper' uy using the term communication to refer tj.)
trio broad rarye of lays in man and machine passwir:1 ve,)1.1 communication, printed 710-7,e-,
hhi fl-(1,1;;. In rLneral we have avoided the
1hs. --locummunication(s) refers to that
ui a, which Is onducted over a distance
; .ctrunic rmllo, telephone or
Communication as a rlanreU Resource
Little by littler as .e prepared this paper, we began
to talk about communication as a resource. We got to this
point from our concern with the basic issues that cluster
around communication needs, technoiegy and policy. Resources
are the stuff we use to satisfy, meet, or serve needs. Most
simply, resources are useful (Resources and Man, 196"))
Of course, communication resources cannot be totally
separated from other kinds of resources--transportation,energy, food, housing, and all the rest. Rut we can
separate communication resources from other resourcesjust enough to discover some unusual things about them.
Most resources can be classified as either nonrenewable
or renewable. Fossil fuel energy, for instance, is not
renewable, at least not for millions of years. Under
certain conditions, nuclear energy may be renewable.Some parts of communication resources can be seen as
being nondepletable; they cannot be used up. John McHale
says that when communication is cooperative rather thancompetitive, the information part of communication resources
is not depleted by use; often information increases throughcooperative use, by interchange (McHale, 1972:195).
Public discussion, citizen participation in local government,
and the Hawaii 2000 effort in anticipatory democracyillustrate this point: they generate new information!Consideration must also be given to the fact that the
per message cost of communication systems and data storage
and transmission has been steadily and rapidly declining.
This treed is likely to continue into the f-ture,making the cost of the communication resources'quite small
in comparison to today's costs.
Also, the conservation and/or development of most
other resources such as transportation and housing depends
on adequate communication resources. The exact nature of
what is or ought to be the relationship between communication
resources and other resources rrluires further discussion
as do the distinctions betwee,( 1-chnical telecommunications
means and communication r2quivnts supporting theresources.
The Key
;ommunication may n tatel rls a resource,' something
which meets certain nee 's of I-H:vIdualb and societies,
It appears 1J1.ely th'J, r'ts l be enough for everyone- -
present and fu;.urt,. ,,, It J. cl_Qr that If thecommunication resourc ,s in a ,deleG:i are to be abundant,
their development must t.). pl,inne, For the most part,
the communication ,source today have developed
more or less by ( hance or , 12sult of limited commercial
interests and i7o1,?rhmntal
(
We find that we are at a turning point. At thistime, in Hawaii, we can plan the development ofcommunication resources to more fully satisfy the needsof everyone--not just the community leaders, the richand the powerful, or a particular group, but everyone.
In the past, policy formation has usually followedtechnological innovation and diffusion, often withunintended and undesirable consequences. We are nowat a,point when we must put human needs first, technolo-gical possibilities second, and then develop policy onthe relationship of 'technology to'needs. This documentfollows that sequence.
The question before us is:
How can we develop the communication resourcesrequired to satisfy our communication needs?
A relatud question is:
To what extent are operational telecommunicationsservices and facilities available now to satisfy ourcommunication needs and, where not available, how canthey be provided, at what cost, and who will pay forthem?
,.
1 IP'
)
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14 It
'01
N
('ONMUNICATION NEEDS
In Hawaii as elsewhere in the world, those who seek
to plan the future become aware that "the discussion andresearch alternatives for the world should be focused on
the principal issue--Human Needs" (IRADES, 1974). In the
past, there has been little public discussion or systematic
researcx on human needs. At present, there does notappear to be in Hawaii or elsewhere a public consensuson wnat the basic human needs are, and how such needsmight be satisfied or gratified. dn the future, ourriterest's in long-range planning will require that weJo Lnow wnat human needs are, and whether they are stable
or changing. Some futurists assert, for instance, thatnaman needs are changing at a rapid rate. For a varietyof reasons, communication planning requires that we bewell-informed about humgh needs in general and morespecifically our communication needs--present and future.
Human, Needs
The general concept of human needs has been the
,subject of occasional inquiry and advocacy. Quite oftensuch inquiry has been informal and present oriented.For instance, a thoughtful group of friends meet oneevening each month to discuss their personal life goals;
from their discussion they conclude=that their major goalshould be to serve human needs; after further discussion,they decide that there are just four human needs. Or, as
a very different instance, a political theorist advocatesthe revolutionary idea that the resources of a societysnould be allocated to its members "each according toni3 needs" and, as an unintended consequence, raises the
fundamental question:. what is the relationship of needs
to the scarcity or abundance of resources. Other instances
can easily be added, but the point would remain the same:,information on human needs gained from public discussionand systematic research remains scarce. Fortunatelythere are some exceptions.
The work of the psychologist Maslow constitutes anoften cil,rJd general body of writing on human needs(:slo, l'7+7:) . He asserts that each human is a"biological 57't,71 encountering ever-occurring needs."
maz.- trio further assumption that human need's cantvio types--basic and created.
's and orders basic neetiG ds:
physiological nee ,)such as air, water, food,x;
safety 2-11 securItysnds;love an! belonincness needs;
(prom L.),:lf and others) needs; and,n,:yd; ds,Aliveness, order Ind ..riirn
rieds ,:ould include, for example, "d,,, Tres" and
ishes." Whil? the Naslo-.1---work hathhanumber of strong' _ dres, certain difficulties have been encountered .hen
Lications have hen attempted '(I-luizinga, 1)71).
Communication Needs
Wide agreement can be secured for the claim that
'nere exist real human communication needs. In the most7,eneral sense, case studies ofiphildren who have been
"isolated in an attic or "exiled to the forest to live
with the animals" document that when the capacity forinterpersonal communication does not develop, neither do:last of the otilr characteristics we use to define ourselves
bein:.s. Also, prolonged periods without commu-nitive interaction lead to a general deterioration of
u. caricities, as prison camp studies have illustrated.
Jn a urowl and gross level, these and other availablefacts support the claim that humans need to communicate.1th each other to become and remain human. Yost simply,,J,Iiianication needs exist.
ri'o date, there has been no large-scale attempt,eit,ner through public discussion or systema,,ic research,
to define or identify the full range of human communicationneeds, and to inquire about their relative importance.A UJE:;CO He Tonal Ceminar for Communication Planners held
aiala Dampur in December 1974 (UNESCO, 1974) emphasized'train toe importance of knowing, what communication needs
are to De served; how these needs relate to socialstructures; and, how the identified needs are associatedwith various social and cultural objectives. These concerns
r "semble others to he found in still other recent UNESCOdocuments 'in'. in the national communication planning documents
Canada (H1,-1ish, 1973J, Australia (Telecommunication... , 1574) , and other countries. There is a recwit
a:Ld "id,_sread reco,rnition of the importance of basiccom-lunicati-)n needsand how little we .(now about
h1.1 interest appears to emerge from two neck
:(-J1,,i'lc-Atons technology can now be developedc,):,-1:niPlion ;1(d; after
;carcity of collimuniralon technology,r cmi %.buftiant. ;iowever, there
iv is ee:ftr1('Ilon.; to, it,., aviJlability t.o
r. .
ti
-?
2. Communication policy, once communication needs
are known, can guide the developmei-it of teoh-
nology to ensure that'communications technology
does indeed serve communication needs; a review
of existing communication policies show that
some of them 'still assur- -1+- technology :oust
remain scarce as indee .1 is in many parts
of the world.
-These two new conditions are developed more fully in later
sections of this paper.
A prognim of discUssion and vesearth--both worldwide'
and in Hawaii - -on communication needs can be expected to
yield:
o a set of criteria for defining a communicationneed-=How do you know one when you find it?
o a list of defined communication needs - -How many
_are there? How are they unique?
ao a procedure for organizing defined communication
needs- -Are some communication needs more important
than others? How much so?
o ,a procedure for translating communication needsinto technical and operationalrequirements--How can operational capabilitiesand facilities be acquired and made available?
o a procedure for estil.iLt1414 the quality and quantity
of the communication resources and incidentcommunication facilities necessary to satisfy thecommunication needs of a community--What do we
require in H-awaii, intrastate, interstate, and
international?
o a procedure for monitoring communication needsatisfaction in a community--How do we '-owcommunication ,needs are being met?
If the communication resources'of Hawaii are to tiC planned
and developed for the purpose of satisfying the comuinication
needs of everyone in Hawaii, a substantial amount of discussion
and researcli will be required together with financial support,
including capital invdstment.
At tne ber,innin!-, of our inquiry into human communication
neod:;, it lt,;Prill to know how precisely communication
:111.._;t 1, !-if!111. At thie, ''arty stai'p, a prellrilnaPy
,trpc,tr, tO tiC1(1d(_? thCie t,'(' point,;:
1. a communication need must be hnowia preciselyenough to decide what kinds of communicationtechneloc-y, if any, are required to serve thatneed.
.01
2. a communication need must be known,..xactlyenough to determine what communication.po11 les,if any, are required to be sure that technologyserves that particular need.
It is our expectation that public discussion will enrichunderstanding of this basic question. But.also, weanticipate that experimental use and study will be,required.
Present Practices
At present, routine attempts to study communicationneeds are ,usually made within the framework of)an existingtechnology or policy. A few illustrations can help makethifs point clear.
The airwaves or radio spectrum are "pUblic domain"and are to be used for the "public interest, convenienceand neaeasity2___Clonsequently, requIrd to"reserve" a portion of the spectrum for any particularuse. A broadcast station", for instance, must ascertaintoe needs of the community it serves (Baldwin and Surlin,1970). There are federal and other guidelines for needsascertainment. The usual procedure involves the inter-viewing of community leaders (Surlin and Bradley, 1974),and other members of the community. Questions like thefollowing ones are usually asked:
O what do you see as the major problems in yourpartilar area of influence or interest?
o your opinion, are the major, problemsor .:Zed;; of the community as a whole?
o Are there some ways in which yot4link thebroadcast media might be more helflful inaddressih uhemselves to some of these problems?
Wnile the information obtained from answers to questionssuch as tuq'se is helpful for programming decislons, tnequestions as-(1 about TV broadcasting often assume thatt.hi 25 year o] d? uno of technology is unchanging and
broadcasters do not in lucreh r r l ..)e-:trum might be diff2.rently
t,o ;of the community, nor do they
;:hat the ' 'I i.an,7t, of commanication needs of thecommunity 11)'.:1'. questions asked are usuallyabout a tart. - broadc'It 5f;rvIce rather than a
8
. 'cation service. We stress this point because a::,[ajur study by Katz in ISrael on he uses of the massmedia snowed that ,even for those 'Communication needs thatmass media wt2re supposed to serve best, in most instances,something other than mass media served or could servethose needs better (Katz and others, 1973).
Similarly, wqp schools inquire about student needsfor training in communication skills, they usually askabout skills that can be learned in schools as they nowexist and operate, as the "needs assessment" investigationsillustrate (An Assessment 1970) . It should' beadded that CATV, the press, and other interest groupstend, ascommercial broadcasting and the schools do,to inquire'about only those needs that can be readilyserved within the confines of, existing technological orinstitutional structures.
There is an instructive local counter example inPEACESAT (PanPacific Education and, Communication Experimentsby Satellite) (Bystrom, 197). In this instance, systematic,attempts are being made to discover and clarify how to
serve:auman'needs for communication through.inquiries,madeof potential and actual users-., Interestingly enough, mostof the uses of PEACESAT have been for consultation, seminars,and information interchange of many kinds--in other words,Irse-not at all Iike a commerciaalorbadcast statIenrsprogram or a classroom lecture. The 'PEACESAT experienceraises again the question formulated by Katz. Do basiccommunication needs tend to require two-way communication?(Katz and others, 1973).
Policy changes now underway in Hawaii should enablegreater citizen participation in public meetings. Frompublic concerns expressed about closed meetings, decisionsmade in smoke-filled rooms and the like, action is beingtaken to respond to a need for participation. But ifsorch a need for participation exists, what are its full
dimensions? There are a number of related questionsincluding the rescheduling of meetings to appropriatehours, making meetings available on cable and, in general,developing the community wide communication resourcesnecessary to make the policy an effective and economicallysupportable one.
As a related example, when a radio station beginsa talk show or "participatory format," communicationskills or a :)articular type are needed that were notdeveloped In tn,_- earlier,"passive listener" era of radio(Turow, Arc):;s a lifespan, most .of us will needto (_1(2vt:ic)p rw c(muntcation skills froth time to time.
ch:tre 'Ilthout resource development is
unlikely to yiell useful results. The basic communicationneri will prob1,1:, retain unknown and unmet unlessadditional prol)in-
9 I ti
Areas of Communication eeds
Perri .)Ay .1%,1:n that we do not yet have an
aiequate list:, r of (-)mme,,lication needs in or
for tnat ,matter, anywhere else in the world. However,
it seems from the evidence currently available,tnat at least three broad areas of needs will be evidenthere and elsewhere. These communication need areas are:
information needsinterpersonal needspersonal needs
I:ley will be discussed briefly in tne following paragrb.phs.
Information needs present a perplexing, problem. On
tae one hand there is an explosion in information. There
is,an,unquestioned abundance. Yet, urban residentL, inparticular, sesm to require more information than everbefore to solve their problems and develop their possibilities.i:ut many persons--urban and rural--are unable to obtain theinformation tlicy deed for their daily living.
In an extensive examination of the information needsof the "average" citizen (Dervin, 1974), it was foundt.1-at moat persons needed more information than they iniew
to obtain on:
neighborhood, such as city services, traffic and
parkingconsurier, s!ic,i as product quality, priceshousir,7, such as loans, landlordshous::KeepinF, and household maintenance, such as
home improvement codesemplou:,lent, such as getting, keePin- or changing
jobseducation and schooling, such as adult services,PTA uctions
health, :Alch as cast of health Ansurance, coverage,services
transp-)rtat'on, such as bus schedules, automobileinsuran_.2
recreation and culture, such as playground supervisionfinancial matters or assistan6e, such as tax problemq,
crt-Git'IssIstanc- ,:11 :,oyial security, :.,uch as
oenefits5,2 ,I.na',!.on and race relations, such as racIal
!relationhipi, such as day
4,
' ! Ind birth -,ntnol'hi Interpretations
sr(:' as ''-n( Ian enforcement
1;
'Immigratton, laigration and mobilityveterans and military, such as benefits, rights,
-( dischargespublic affairs, political, etc., such locating
Even in a partial listing of information needs, it becomesevident that a variety of communication service;; are
required. The mass media do not. cannot and,indeed,are not intended to serve specific needs such as thesefor any person or family (Kaz, 1973).
Interpersonal communication needs appear to be
changing, in part, o'ecause so much of the informationneeded to survive in a city must be acquired fromimpersonal sources: operat4g manuals, strangers, phone
books, street sig,nscomputer terminals, and. the mass
media. When information needs are high, even interpersonalcommunication face-to-face in a bank or'with a salesman
over the phone likely to be brief, businesslike,friechahical--impersonal. Teleyision viewing, newspaperand nook reading, and other mass media usage reduce the
time available fo't satisfying interpersohal communicationneeds;-:
At La -much----TearIter-t-ime , -human 1--n-f-erMat4-one-x-c-h, -took place within the context of interpersonal communi--
,cation. Until printing was widespread, almost all infor-
mation of use was stored in some other human brain.Communication resources only included other people. In
recent years, t4t6T& has been much speculation on thenature of the human need for interpersonal relationships,ethnic identity, cultural context and the like. As
impersonal man-machine communication increases, it seems
likely that the interpersonall-communication needs will
become of greater concern.
Peraonal communication needs are usually called
privacy. Tne interest in privacy, in part, grew out of-
the problem of "protecting the privacy" of public figuresand tneir families from newspaper reporters. In recent
years, two additional concerns have been added. One of
these- comes from the fact that vast quantities of infor-mation are collected about a person--bredit, income, etc.--And stored in computers. At this time, an individual
eras rather little control over the use'of such information.
A quite different concern arises from the intensiveness
of communication 'activity that many persons experienceduring a worl,in day: a report must be finished 1_,(i fore
a mectin7, pnone rings, someone "in town" only for avnQckl; on the door, an assistant needs a set
of ooni,J1_/ 1.n,ction..7, clarified, and Communicationstrss or overload occurs. A variety of factors give
to 1pr:,on:t1 need for privacy.
i,
..
Al3o, there appears to be another part of thepersonal communication need. A person' sometimes needs,peace and Illot to "think through" and develop personal
l. opinion,.. ..1: t;lis need requires a temporary shield
from outside communication.
AS thebe ccrimunication need areas are clarified andothers added to enlarge the list, it seems likely thatcommunication resources will develop in a quite differentquantity and quality than has been the case up to now.How, for instance, are the information needs of a communitymember servea by having three similar TV newscasts .
broadcast at 6 o'clock each weekday, evening? As thenext section shows, a wider variety'of communication -
technologies could be used tO serve communication needsin i:awaii than ere presently being used.
12
ft
we can classify by form of communication, .
the principal types fpr humans are graphic (hard copy) andaudio and visual, either live or stored; for machines,
electrical '-cLanical f3rmb,'Iive or stored.
}ii tori dal nv,,rv4ew
Probably, the process of communication L even olderthan mankind., Animals use one or more of the five sensesfor daily survival as well as more "personal" oxchanres.
The technology of communication wa\b, enormouslyadvanced by early man through the articulation of soundsinto speech for more sophisticated and direct, real-timeinterchanges; speech was also used for stared communication-by thq telling and retelling of history, tribal laws,and other information considered to be of value fromgeneration to generation.
Many early cultures independently developed graphic
means for storing communication through- drawings, asexemplified by the petroglyphs of Hawaii. Perhaps thenext step was the development of alphabets, which madepossible the storage of speech by means of the written
word- The_printing press enorMously_reduced tilelab-Grand cost of reproducing written words, thus expandingthe availability of this means of communication andleading to the mass publication of books, newspapers,and periodicals. In more recent times, the developmentof photocopying processes, notably xerography, hassignificantly extended our individual capability to
reproduce materials and increase the distribution ofwritten communication.
Invention of the telegraph in 1837, less than 140
years ago, established a whole new means of communication,since for the-first time, information could be conveyed
at a distance. almost instantaneously by means of 6lectricalsignals transmitted through wires. Thj.s marked the beginningof telecommunications technology.. Thirty nine years later,tne telephone was invented, making it possible for speechto be transmitted by' wires. The 1890's produced thediscovery of radio signals, permitting transmission ofinformation through the abcosphere without wires, followedin rapid succession by wir6.1ess telegraphy and the wireless
telephone. Meanwhile, a unique form of storage andreproduction of aud*o information was established by
t.1phonograph In 1377, with the magnetic tape reorcior
coming at the turn of the century.
Atored visial communication was revolutionied bythe invention of' pnof,orraphy in 1837. Tine first wirepnoto
was sent in 1T31, 'Hiding a telecommunications capabilityfor transporting visual images:- Color photorraphy wasdemonstrated In IjiqP and silent movies two years 'later.
(,:',):1UNICATION RESOURCESand
COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY
Almost every comp:alnity uses a variety of communication
resources. We can now inquire about how well theseresourcep serve commUnication needs at present and what
new services and supporting technologies will be required
in the future. lost of the technology, pertinent to this .
discussion lies in the field of telecommunications.
Classes of Communication
It is useful in examining communication needs andalternatives for the future to classify the various modes
in terms of their objectives. On such classification(Gifford and Smith, 1973) is the following:
personal (one-to-one, or point-to-point)--directconversation, telephone, mail
amall group-kon-eto-aeverad-or-point-ta-pointa,limited)--committee meeting, teleconference
mass flow out (one-to-many or point-to-points,broad) -- newspaper .television, movie
mass flow in (many -to -one or points-to- point) --
polling, applause
Another classification is:
man to tpchine--computer programming, manualcontrol
machine to man--computer output, instrument panel
machine to machine--data communication, switching
c1%.;.;ification can be by information rate:
speed--yes/no, on/off, etc.1i-praph
5104 high speed data (with or without
ror ,Jrr-c'Ion)1-1-;
irn 11..111,7 voice-music fidelity,.ih ,ion (black and white or color)
lit! t,JQvision (black and white or color)
13
Me development of sound motion pictures in 1927
was the first major technological breakthrough in.aul" cl: t1deo commurication in a. reproducible
stored form. soant seven years later, telecommunications
tecnnology prbduced brOadcast television, providing a
fo :.lat for comunicating both sound and voice ,simulateeouslyinstantaneasly at a distance. Until the later
de.,edopme4.5, of Linescope and videotape, there was no
convenient' way to itore, edit, and repeat the information.
d(2 have cable television 3ystens with 20 to 40-
cnarmel capacities in a single coaxial cable.
Electronics has played tha,major role during the ,late
1)th and the 20th century in the rapid development of
telecommunications technology. Highlights include thefirst vacuum tune in 1904, the vacuum tube amplifier
three years later, tree transistor in 1948, and the laser
in 1960. Continuing, advances in integrated solid state
circuits, microelectronics and fiber optics are being
made which will further influence future communication
systems.
Computer technology has also become an integral part
of modern communication, 'although this interaction was
hardly foredeen waela its_forerunne_r the firat_digital
calculating machine, was disclosed in 1823. Electronic
coll:,uters were born in the 1940's, using vacuum tine
technology. The phenomenal growth of this industry -in
recent years is attributable in large part to solid state
electronics. In many of today's computer sytems, it is
difficult to separate the communication and data processing
functions; conversely, sophisticated communication systems
lean Heavily on computers to perform switching, regulatetraffic, select alternate routes, handle and
handle a myrlai of routine tasks. The implications of
this synergy between computers and communication is
fundamental to our ability to predict and plan for the
future of communications technology.
As with compurs, technical advances in other
fields which in"tially appeared to be unrelated have
subsequently altered the course of communication practice
and planning. '_;erman research and development of
rocKets Burin-7 World War II was the forerunner or the
. Russian ,..;putnik satellite launched in the late 1950's,
and in 1965 the first international commercial cordlunioa-
tions satellite was placed in synchronous orbit over the
Atlantic 6cean.
Almost thereafer this satellite was
;2%t el iote national system-of satellites
Nd, tas1.1,sn, serving the entire world. The system
Is :eLntly owned and operated by the dosItcnated telecom-
mA-lytt.lon:; ent!tito;: or 89 nations of time world.
15
_ven a cursory review of the history of communicationresources provides us wite some useful clues in planningfor the balan2,,- or '7,+n cent,lry and the decadesbeyond:
o the rate of advance in telecommunicationstechnology is accelerating, with the intervalbetween significant new dev lopments beingreduced to years rather tri centuries
o new technologies in othe ields can sometimesproduce major impacts on lecommunications
o communication serves not only as an end untoitself, but also as a vital ingredient in otherprocesses
we already have more telecommunications,tchnologyand installed facilities available today than wehave fully assimilated into society, with thepromise of rapid and enormous improvements aswell as new offerings yet to com4
o past efforts to project the long-range impact-of emerging technologies have almost invariablyunderestimated the potential, particularly forinteractive utiliz2tion with other technologies
o each advance in telecommunications technology hasexerted a major influence in the social, economicand political sphere as well
o while communication planning for Hawaii may notsignificantly affect the course of technologialresearch, such planning must include a continuousMonitoring and assessment of new deVelopments,,inaddition to regulatory restrictions and governmentpolicies.
Case hxample: Telephone Service in Hawaii
To provide some insight into the growth and applicationof telecommunications technology in Hawaii, the evolutionof telLpi,one services in tl-e Islands is offered as a caseexample.
1,ess than two years after Alexander qranant Bellobtaine,i 1871), there wab a three mile«; 1, :phone link in operation on (.;imonds, 195'0. .
!:p?re 47 tel,'phonL!7. in °pupation on ihu,and )t tn,2 turn or tee century, numbQp had increased1,o about 1,11X).
-16
C
iy 194D, there were some 40,000 telephones in Hawaii(:)tate of liawai1 Data Book, 1974) a ratio of one phonefor every 11 persons; in that year, a daily average of
seven local per phone were made, while the annualaverage of interisland calls per phone was-1.1 and onetranspacific call per year was made for every four
telephones. In 1973, there were 524,000 telephones inHawaii, corresponding to about two phones for everythree persons; thi3 daily average of calls was downsignificantly to about five per phone, but the annualaverage of in calls was up to seven per phone,wnile the transpacific yearly average soared to 13 per
phone. over one billion loca.1 calls were made in Hawaiiin 1)73, with almost 4 milliOn interisland callsGandluout seven million transpacific calls.
The monthly charge for an individual residentialtelephone was 6 .00 in 1880, falling to an all-time lowof ,:;2.00 by 18Th .3ince then, it has risen more or less
steadily to the :)resent (1974) rate of $9.50 for'a one-party resident'ai line on Oahu. While monthly servicecharges have beet increasing, however, interisland,interstate and international rates have come down
.significantly. In 1930, the daytime station-to-stationthree minute rat (, from Honolulu to lftlo was $9.00, and
to :Tian Francis,2o $21.00. By the end.of 1974, corresponding
--rZ.U_s_were interisland and $2.40 to western mainlandstates (plus tax)- for direct-dialed calls, with-nt-ght7-
rate-of interisland and $1.80 to western statesfor diect=dialed calls. Private line voice channelrates to the West Coast0decreased from $20,000 per month
in 1)5/;:o the present rate of $4,150.
Despite the significant reductions, these rates are
roughly twice those paid in the mainland states for
services over approximately the same distances. A uniformmileage rate pattern has not as yet been extended to
include hawaii.
The te]ephone has now achieved the status of being
a business h,2c,.!:;_ity and a personal need for pry ticallytree entire pui Jation of Hawaii. We are linked to ther-alnlarcl by fo';r undersea cables (three to' the U. 2.,
uae to ,:anada), caable of carrying 1,268 simultaneousconvrsations, ar I y two cables to other Pacific countries
,uch Ja[ah, the Philippines, and Australia (via Guam
and Fiji) a capacity of 222 simultaneous conversations.
A second to Japan via Guam is being added now which
will Incre- th,s number by 845. Two internationalratd by COMAT, have a capacity in excess
)fs m.,,:ns calls (COMSAT, 1974). Ten inter-
H_:ro.;a c9hhections link our islands to each
idlt1ohol 24 are used for intrarsland
17
.ne first time telephone lines were utilized forremote-computer operation was in 1940 between New York.
City and Hanover, N.. Y. :ince then, telephone lines havebeen used increasingly for interconnection of computerswith each other andfor human interface with remotecomputers. Conventional dialed telephone connectionsnave their problems, however--the circuits were designedfor voice. Teletypewriter speeds are too slow for high-speed data transfer. Noise bursts not very noticeableor irritating; in conversation produce multiple errorsfor computers. Finally, the cost of sending data moderate .
to long distances over a switched-telephone network canbe high. Specialized wideband syStems have been developed,ztilizing the equivalent of 12 to 24 voice chanh-1s, but
standards of quality, type of switching, transmissionmethod, speed and capacity have yet to be uniformly agreed
upon. Nevertheless, many hotel and airlqne reservationsystems, as well as national credit card networks operatevery successfully in this way.
In Hawaii today most telephone system links tocomputers are made via conventional voice-grade lines,with teletypewriters or audio couplers serving as I he
interface between the human operator and the compuer.There are some private line networks using "conditioned"circuits wilose quality is somewhat improved over con-ventional lines, sometimes with special tailored charac-
teristics. The one non = military wideband system is the
AHA network which links Hawaii with the mai-hlimath- In
addition, there are a number of military wideband lines
used for secure voice communications.
ilobile radio telephone service in Hawaii (not to be
confused with police and taxicab radio systems) hasdeveloped one step beyond the mainland. Since few, if
any, mobile telephone equipped vehicles enter the islands,compatibility with the Bell designed system is unnecessary.The system provided by Hawaii Telephone Company allowscalls to be placed or received by the mobile unit on anychannel which is not busy. Select4on of the vacantChannel is entirely automatic. The system can accommodatemore subscribers than a comparable mainland system usingthe same number of channels. The problem, both in Hawaiiand on the mainland, involves expansion of the system asa result, of limited frequency assignments available. FCC
policies lean more toward mass communication than toward
personal co!.lunication. The UHF band, which would betechnologielli desirable for mobile use, has been assigned
to TV rather than mobile telephones. In Hawaii we haveno UHF TV .;t -it lons and small prospect in the near future,so pernr,ps an exception could be sought. however, suchspe,2ialized equipment designs would have a limited market
and tnus a nigher price. There :are also technologicaldifriculties in mobile systems. Good service over asingle island would require divemity reception, i.e.,
18
selecting the best signal among two or more antennas,
bat:. at the ve.licle and at tne fixed stations, with
automatic .3,117.-hih ,-ven in the middle of a call. The
problems can p,.obably be solved, even economically, If
the potential I2,--.and is great enough and priorities are;riven to appropriate (if not optimum) and permanent
frequency allocions. There are value judgments sorethat supersede the technical, considerations.
Hawaii note has Direct Distance Dialinr (DDD) inter -
island and to the mainland. Oerators are still used torecord the caller's number in the smaller telephone: central
offices. Within the next few years, all offices will be
eluipped with automatic calling number identification.nave the Wide Area Telephone Service (WATS) for inter-
sland calls, but not to the mainland. In this system,a flat rate hlonthly charge is made for unlimited longdistance calls 4ithin one or more s,ecified reEions; themainland is now divijled into five such regions.
als,, does not have domestic rates for longdistance interconnection for special funetions, as are
,.,roa.,out the mainland, e.g. teleVision
r' snissicn and specialized telecommunications servicesfor transmission of data, facsimile and record traffic.
Hawaii-:lainland U. S. telegraph message, telex,
r,22ord and datd communications services are provLded
exclusively by nt.,'rnational carriers and at rates
Ica ly .11z1iT.Tr parr those-chjaye-d-throughout__tno.a;_nland states where such services are provided by the
H. ,,,,ostic telegraph carrier (Western Union Telegraph
c',,J:,,i,,tny) and spL.cialized carriers in open competiti
4hat future titan es can we anticipate in the way
of telecommunications service and rates? H(2 most
significant twar-term development, requiring no techno-lov;ical brea;:through, 4111 be domestic satellites, which
snould b a reality for Hawaii within a year. With
dur:estic satellites, Hawaii's long distance telephone 1
rates to :,,alniand states should approach, if not equal,those on th_. .inland and the special services mentionedearlier shoui,t not only be commonly available, but at
i..mparative rates. This will not only increase our accessto new communications technology, but also enr:Tcunlyf,pahl out' ,usage of existing capabilities.
l'elephone has begun introducing ellectrunic
,itcning greater reliability and servicefaster, requires less space and :0
.,.lny is also prnpo:iln a transpac.if'ic
,., eh and the mainland. v,iriety
JL -eds rangint; fru,,1 hits per second
,is planned.
C19
)
I
Although we can talk via the telephone, we cannot
see the caller. The Bell System developed the Ficturephoneseveral year ago, which was demonstrated successfully in
a purely technical senst., but it has been a dismal failure
economically. Tne first problem is psychological: now
important and desirable is it to the user? If it is aloved one or a close business associate at tile other end,
that would have a value, but how about a bill collector,a salesman or the telephone operator? Second, the terminalequipment costs some tens of times as much as the basic
telephone; what is occasional use worth? The third prObleminvolves transmission cost, since the bandwidth required i
is up to 200 times as much as that needed for a good
voice reproduction. Finally, there is the usual marketingproblem: until there are many terminals to communicatewith, who wants to pay a high price to be connected?
Telephone usage in Hawaii continues to increase far
more rapidly than the population. Services are steadilyimproving while the costs for local usage tend to increase
and- the costs for long distance decrease. Hawaii is an
important link in the routing of international trans-
pacific communication. Besides the convectional use oftelephone company facilities for conversations betweentwo individuals, they will be utilized increasingly fordata transmission, computer interfacing) radio'and tele-vision transmission from the mainland, teleconferencing,facsimile and in combination with other communicationi:_lia, as, for example, in the radio talk show format.
Broadcast Radio and Television
Commercial AM radio broadcasting began in Hawaii in
1922, and the first FM station was established in 1953.
'Today, there are 25 AM stations and 7 FM stations involvedin commercial broadcast, with one FM educational station.A wide variety of fare is available, with many of the'
individual stations specializing in particular forms of
programming: rock music, an all news format, telephonediscussion with listeners, sacred and classical music,Hawaii music, c'untry and folk music, Japanese-speakinglisteners, Filipino listeners;'others offer a mix of these
and other types of program elementS.
:q-oadcast television came, to Hawaii 23 years ago,
an'l now there are five stations on Oahu, with 9 total of
seven satellite stations on neighbor islands. Of the
rive primary ;tations, all three national networl:s are
epreentec, ,Alt s 1.1.tion is independent , and one i-
1,.-,':ionr11.
i 20
iv.
Primarily for economic reasons, rest of our remote
radio and television programming is broadcast a week
later tnan on t.le v,ainland. Special news programs anti
major sporting, events are notable exceptions; these are
relayed by sateldite at ?costs based on international rates.
With domestic satellites and lower rates, more of the
2rwtramming can he live, or perhaps delayed by a `'e'.; hours
because of the tine zone differences. However, thi,
communication neeu is not yet well-defined.
,Ilegarding frequency spectrum allocated by the FCC
for broadcast radio and television, there is room for
additional station's to be licensed in Hawaii. Expansion
of these communication media ist not presently limited by
technology,or federal restrictions. Rather,,,the problems
are in terms of limited overall market size,'populationdispersal (especially on the neighboA islands) coupled
with terrain Arriers,.and economic considerations. There
is no scarcity in a technological sense of broadoast
and television channels in Hawaii., 1n' fact, Hawaiian
Telepnone'Corpany is ipeing allowed use of otheiNwise TV-
designated frequency assignments (channels) for itsconventional microwave' point -to-point services.
Cable Television
Another factor affecting growth off' the broadcast
media is Cable Television (CATV), which can become an
important communication medium in Hawaii. Originally '
conceived as a method for providing improved reception
from existing; broadcast television to cd5tomers who Were
remote from urban transmitters, CATV expanded to include
cit\dwellers plat-lued by interference from high rise
developments and more recently to providir significant (
additional ,),:ogramming services to attract new subscribers.
Who are already in good reception areas. Cable franchises
inlHawaii are awarded by the State Department of Regulatory
Ag6ncies,s on the basis of census tract boundaries, with
no overlap between operator areas. There are now five
companies cever'ng Oahu, one on Kauai, three on Hawaii,
and one on Saul with two additional franchises pending.
As a -condition of its franchise, each company is requi'red
within two years of award to make cable service avai4,ble
throughout its area, provide a free cable connection for
each puolic school, and dedicate at no cost one channel-
for educational use, one for public access, and one for
government use. There were 650 mil6s of installed plant
in April 1974 but September, 1)75, there will be more
tynan 1,20') DO'" incveaL, in 17 months. Such
of the new clbl, installa9 will have a capacity
xc pc-unt plan::'fo- usage, allowing for
cx1 tne-,!--,Id for additional types
of crylce thy 'Sur , one system being installed .
on '.Sin can ;icc,, up to -i") rhahnels of television
21
*.,
from the studio and two viuco channels of capacity back
to the studio. In addition to carrying commercial broad-
cast television, some do or will offer FM radio, tereo
Liusic, additional television programming, unintertkuptedmovies, news reports, weather service, and local announce-ments. Although the regional coverage of a CATV systemis limited to its franchise area, interconnection of
CATV systems for broader (even Statewide) distributionis quite feasible technically if and when the demand and
economics are in balance. Provision for some forms oftwo-way interactive utilization of CATV is also beingbuilt into the newer distribution systems being installed,although at present there are no specific plans forimplementation.
Newspapers and Peiodicls
Hawaii has two English language daily newspapersheadquartered on Oahu, with a combined circulation of
over 200,000, and one daily newspaper on the Big Islandwith over 15,000 subscribers;,Maui and Kauai have weekly
newspapers. In addition, there are two Chinese and two
Japanese daily newspapers.
There are at least 26 other civilian publications,ranging in frequency from semi-weekly to bi-monthly,,plus 16 military publications. Individual periodicalsare geared to a wide range of different readershipinterests: tourists, communities, construction, business,
religion, youth, politics, and labor.
MuCh of today's technological innovation in thenewspaper field centers around the use of computers,interactive displays and.electronics to permit moreautomated makeup of individual pages, more rapid errorcorrection and production of higherresolution copy for,
optical platemaking. Improv4d facsimile techniquespermit transmission of photographs or who pages of j
text ready for platemaking from overseas in a matter of,
minutes. Again, lower rates and new flexibility of
services anticipated from domestic satellites shouldencovage greater utilization oL, this process.
Postal Service
The number of individual pieces of mail originatingin Havaii has climbed at an average rate of about 72: per
year over the past eight years. In 1973, over 226million pieces were handled; gross receipts of the Post
Office in Eawaii during the same year Were about $27
million. While rates have continued to climb, service
22
has not improved accordingly and in many cases appears
to have deteriorated. Postal service is inherently alabor-intensive and individualized means of communication;approximately 85% of the national post office budget is 4
spent on salaries and employee benefits. Efforts have
been made and are continuing to increase efficiency and
reduce costs. As an example, zip codes do assist in
manual sorting and routing; experimental electronic zip
code sorters have been built, but their main operationaldifficulty, ies in adapting to the variability of hand-
writing and placement on the envelopes, a feat which is
far simpler for humans than machines. Su-called"electronic mail" is a current rea4arch area. However,
the established and successful MAILGRAM service,lofferingof the U. S. Posbal Service throughout the mainland
states and Canada in cooperation with Western UnionTelegraph Company has not been allowed to be. extended
to Hawaii from the mainland U.S.
Telegraph Message Service
Telegraph message- service by 41e between Hawaii
and the mainland commenced in 1901; his mi5de was
supplanted by radio links in 1912, a <Fin 1951 cable
service was terminated. The number of telegraph messages.transmitted between Hawaii and the mainland reached a
peak in 1966 of about 589,000 and has since decreased to
about 65% of-that level (387,000 in 1973), despite the
fact that the cost has remained constant at 21 cents per
word sent since 1960. During that interval (1966-1973),
automatic teleprinter exchange (telex) service was
established while transpacific telephone service improved
in quality and lowered in cost, thereby increasing calls
by a factor of 3.
Other Communication Resources
Many other communication resources are in common
usage in Haviaii., Motion pictures, theater, books, records,
audio tapes, tape recorders, closed. circuit television,
video tapes, ham radio, teletypewriters, and, personal
conversation are additional examples. No atteMpt is made
here to generate an exhaustive list. Technological
advances will undoubtedly Ice,made in some of these, but
the major thrust of long-range communication planningfor Hawaii will need to be focussed oil the previously
discussed resources and especially on the potential improve-
ments and applications to become available through tele-
communication3 technology.
;d1(2,
:n tn- .,u,.- `y, 'the concepl-, of the
"..rui city" ex:14' the functional telu-unications LILL! ,:hich a need has peen
taulished for t. basic corrIponents r:fre
".:Gmr:unications Te;*nology ..., 1971). One can vie::
city as a lane 'ormation nronessinr system in wnichmacri of th2 r .n;-!: on 1: In the accens, processingand ,xc.lt!.-c of inrurmation, -ither for direct use orfor inuiruc:. -urvice to t:ie pnysical f`inctioning of the
city.
At the individual person-to-person level, we alreadynave in tne telephone a full two-way random access networkthat can accommodate voice and data. As individualizeddata processing; needs and capabilities evolve, this samenetwork can ou used more extensively for man-machine andmachine -machinu r'indo access interconnection between anytwo terminals on an as-needed basis. A video capabilitycould be 1' iconomically justified.
di3trLbution of inf6rmation in bulk from centralfacilities to offices or homes, a broadband network with
32 )r more outgoing tslcvision or high speed data channelsis )ften proposed; limited information-carrying capacityin The return direction would also be provided for call -
uas. t-o a central facility for polling, making requestsan'; r venue record-keeping. Localized subcenters wouldbe interconnected with a full 30 channel two-way capacity.
:;ecohd network corresponds essentiallyto too modern .;ATV systems now being installed in Haaaii.
A third network, provided with the equivalent of)/, more broadband channels in eaci, direction would
interconnect tne major public institutions in the city--halls, nospitals, scnools, libr,ries, police stations,
t.::purts, etc. .;o!e permanent !_nterconnections might beet.: e. !_tvtitutLons, bit others would be
`,:hed-!n -I' , ri scne,jule or on iemand. Here again,technrdo,, availnnle, 1,ut much interdisciplinary
denh-lon of vequirnments and economic juL-,tifi-
cl:( 1. are nee .'c: for i 1.)1(-,mentation.
Flha117, fourth nut,. , pronably with much lesst,nformat',_ '!ty, cou7d provide specialized informationt, Loy l)t:/t, , criticr.1 matters as
p( 1,nc-Ition and loadin,:,
1,11 ,,ierunt_, of this net-
.. J.]" tnerf, a -rowin: need for muchn-ately ,ermthed and better
cation must be considered.
As a logical extension of the wired city, we can
visualize a similar interconnection of cities, states
:Ind countries. The basic international network already
exists around the globe; clements of national and local
networks, in varying degrees of sophistication, are to
be found in most American cities; the third and fourth
networks pose no fundamental technical barriers. Once
more, the need must be defined, appropriate policies
are required, and economic aspects must be resolved.
An innovati7e system for intergovernmental communi-
cation in the New York-New Jersey-Connecticut metropolitan
region has recently been implemented. The many counties
and municipalities in this area formed the Metropolitan
Regional Council (MRC) to design and operate a microwave
interactive two-way television network linking 17 major
cities and counties together. The system permits two-way
video interconnection with the central facility or between
any two of the community studios, with one-way video from
each community stUdio to its home areas.
Home Information Centers
For a slightly different view of future communication
utilization, we can visualize the functions that might be
available in a home, information center, following the
model of the wired city. The telephone, with a video
capability, could serve as tue backbone for person-to-
person and person/machine interface with worldwide random
access connections available (Pierce, 1974). A 30- criannel,
CATV-type system will not only relay commercial broadcast
radio and television programs, but will permit selection
from a host of regional information programs (local news,
sports, weatner, shopping information, etc.). Upon
interactive request through the return channel, a subscriber
can also determine what programs are available in the
library for rerunning and request that they be presented
at a specified time on channels reserved for this purpose.
A computer terminal will be interconnected to the system,
permitting time-shared access to central computers for
data processing,'for computer-aided instruction, and for
information retrieval. Computer output can either be
viewed temporarily on the television screen or hard copy
provided by teletype or facsimile. Interconnection to
libraries, municipal offices or business will perm14,
specific inforation to be relayed on request Lo thL home,
either in tenperary or permanent form. Daily news can be
provided on th same basis. Gnopping can be done dire',:tJy
,r1 the syst,!:,, ;1 t} v1.1?o information rer-,ardinp; the products
displayed as d-siI.A; identification coding by the sub-
,criber will confirm, t,e purchase and handle the billing.
eservations can so made directly on the system with
instant confirmation. Telemetering of utility meter read-
ings will be accomplished automdtcJlly at suitable
25
intervals; ,bur;,1tr afar is will transmit ,;if:nalsfrom automat: t ; ,Iirectly to appropriate agencies.
of 1] .11so be .;2;
pilot . ....,ItL,Lning all of the servias,outlined above , !,ein developed for installationat a model-town ia.ra, Japan (Video Information-Jste, 1974) . al c.f 33U houses out of 1,13) housesin the conmunit.y connected to the system. servicesare sc.leduled to ,-;Irt in mid-1976, with a comprc:hensiveevaluation slateA to ';e completed by the end of 1)"r3.
This prorram shot,IA cpc,ilice an excellent base of datarelating to applicion of telecommunications technologyto communication nt.. -.is, but whatever the results, theymust be carefully interi)reted in terms of Uawaii's owndesires and aspiratI,Ins.
2-ccin('logy Research
A represent nvt, 'sample of problems and researchareas of current 1,,tE:,20t in communication technologyis indicative of .0.ate of the art and future trendsC;ifford and LmLtn, 1)13).
_.um Allocation
The electro, . spectrum is a very importantuut limited resourct. communication. For someapplications tnere reasonable alternative, asfor example in m(1,-'1- :ct,1unications and satellite
transmission. for some other applicationsai4 awkward or :onwilcal. Different portions of the
spectrum (HF, ilcrowaves, optical) have mitediffOrent prope:.4! f(ic transmission, recept_on, range,etc. As demand r.o.P,:.a8t:, alternatives must be developedand exploited 4herc cclb:,ILle, while priorities for allocation
and optimum rrn,3tantly need re-evaluating.
:70(111 LI,
Amon- tlit
these fields -Irt,
transmission, !-It
switching, ,mtwnr,and security,and electroHai
lation and Coding
now being emphasized inprocessing for efficientorganization and message
:Ition, transmission reliauIlity,c.,1111,itl'in and demodulation techniques,
2nvironr:..!nt control.
)rpose and specialized computer;attsfy ti,c many applicationfuture. Large scale integration
(LSI) of electronic circuitry in computer terminals will
increase their internal computing capability. For example,
an electric typewriter- with sufficient com ter functions
and memory could be used to edit and correc the text of
a document; alternatively, it could be progr mmed to
accept a personalized shorthand from the ty 1st to produce
full text at the output. As the need for informationsharing grows, those terminals which act as the initial
and final interface between man and machine will have to
become more sophisticated. Optical character recognitionmay grow as an input mechanism, graphic display systems
will be improved to facilitate human interaction, better
techniques for operator identification and security ofdata retrieval will be developed, and methods will be
devised for producing cheaper terminals for remotelocations which have a low duty factor of usage.
Speech Analysis and Synthesis
Speech analysis is the process which extracts theinformation-bearing components of speech and converts
tnese into some sort of code. The code may be used for
the transmission of speech'by the use of a speechsynthesizer, the input to a computer or the control of
machine operations. A high accuracy can presently be
achieved with a "cooperative" speaker who will use alimited vocabulary and speak in precise tones. Significantly
more research is needed to accommodate an untrained speaker
using-, a general vocabulary.
Speech synthesis is the inverse process of producing
speech from some-sort of code. Synthesizers which re-
. produce programmable combinations of speech elements
which have been prerecorded on a magnetic drum have been
in use for many years. Other types include the voice
tract analog and the spectrum reconstruction technique.
From the standpoint of performance and applications,speech synthesis is more advanced than speech analysis.
However, bandwidth requirements are high, and bandwidth
compression techniques are costly.
Optical Communication
A recent projection of future demand for information
transfer indicates that as compared with 1970 our uue of
voice communications will increase by a factor of five in
1))0, video increase by a factor of 50, data and
private wire servic-, by a factor of 70, and written col..-
!.ication by a ractc,r of two. To accommodate these
requirments will require enormously expanded transmission
capacity. flpti,:al frequencies have the advantage of
tremendow; bandDtno. Inventiun of the laser provided
U3 lith a 3. :(2 of coherent light, out unfortunatelylimitin ",,cts weather on optical transmission
prohibit all ,u, very -;pecialized or very short rangeapplications. _'he optical fiber now shows promise asbeing a viable alternative. Thdern_fibers may have acentral core only a few microns thick, with a dielectriccladding of pernaps a few mils. Much remains to be donein reducing transmission losses, reliable production of
fibers and fiber cables, splicihg, and connection to thelight source as well as to the receiver.
Applications Research
Of equal, and perhaps greater, importance tocommunication planning are efforts to examine applicationsin a variety of fields (Communications Technoloa1)71). Among the most active research programs are:_
citizen-government interactioneducationhealthpollution:transportationcrime preventionemergency servicehuman factorsexcessive communicationinternational standards
As technological advances produce more economicaland efficient ways to provide telecommunications services,we must continue to examine and optimize ways in whichto utilize those services toward solution of problems of
mankind.
The discussion of communication policy in the nextsection addresses the problem of relating communicationneeds to pro:<<tnt and future communication resources and
communications technology.
28 f I
O
COMMUNICATION POLICY
Every society has an array of communication policies,
with some policies quite explicit in law and othersimplicit in cultural traditions and customary procedures.Nowhere is there an overall communication policy embracing
all issues and concerns, and perhaps none should be expected,.
Development of a concern for an overall.communicationpolicy is a recent phenomenon, and grows largely from
explosive communication technology developments and from
efforts in new and developing countries. These countries
are often starting the whole business of national life,
and they are asking what is the role of communication intheir society, and what communication systems are needed.Communication does not often receive a high priority,
despite its recognition in developed countries as an
essential web of society, and stimulus to social and
economic development (Schramm, 1973).0 4
Much of this is changing. Communication policystudies are now appearing in the developing countriesand there is the beginning of research into communicationpolicy (Pool, 1973), and of policy science (Lerner and
Lasswell, 1951).
,Yet there seems to be little systematic concern aboutcomprehensive communication policy on a national level in
the United States, and the same is true on the state level
in Hawaii. There is, of course high-stake interest and
attention to telecommunications policy in many federal
areas, such as the Office of Telecommunications Policy,
the Federal Communications Commission, and so on. The
great uses to which communication systems can be put to
use in urban and rural societies has been demonstrated.The needs of the people for a wide range of information,much of it individualized, and the ability of technologyto produce systems to provide such services is examinedearlier in this report.
What seems lacking in Hawaii and most other places
is a comprehensive communication policy, a policy thatbrings together the complexities of political, social ane.
economic realities, of working with an intricate andshifting mix of public and private enterprise andinstitutions, while trying to meet very basic needs of
people.
Polley in the Communication Era
In a time many are calling the "communication era"
with rapid technological changes and resulting communica-tion patterns, there are many questions concerning the
29 j )
right of people to c:'J'.iur,-tte and con2,_:quently how various
societies organize, re,,ulate, stimulate, suppress, control,
direct and Pry for the ,:r,mmunication, information and
0- entertainment processes. There are many ways of meetingthe communication objectives of a society, and the rationalexamination of the alternatives is at the heart of what
is called communication policy.
To study communication policy means that the policy-
making or decision-making processes must be studied.
Where do the policies originate? Who decides policy, onthe basis of what objectives,' through what processes?What kinds of information are used as a basis for policy-
making? Are they sufficient? What social,.economic andpolitical considerations are involved in communication
policy decisions? The, real question, as Lasswell notes,
is "How much of this pertinent knowledge is available,and how can it be assembled and presented by the time it
is wanted?" (Lasswell, 1911). Particularly in a free
enterprise system as found in Hawaii and the rest of theUnited States, there is an often indeterminate mixtureof public and private policymaking. And, Hawaii as a state
is under Federal regulations as well as internationalregulations and law agreements, thus further complicating
the decision-making process.
Communication and information are at the heart of
any society, and there are already many existing policiesin Hawaii, often devised ad hoc to meet a particularproblem or to respond, to a particular pressure or new
technology, and often for private rather than public
interests.
The new technology includes the communicationsatellite and the computer. These two innoVations alone
are revolutionizing ways of organizing and structuringcommunication systems in societies. This sense of change
is likely to be something that will prevail. An early
exponent of communication poliy, Ithiel de Sola Pool,
said: "We are now at the ,oint, on the exponentialacceleration of .";tinge, where major innovations in ourcommunicatio'ls ,{stem are coming every decade, and
there is reason to expect that acceleration to stop.
We are enteri'n; a priod in whIch the whole communication
system wil in a --oce;;; constant flux." (Pool, 1973).
These ':es mean enormously increased
(:apacities r information processing and distribution.increso j cap10.1!ities can bring great social henc-
rm-,..; (Jr ;,roviLi- the 1,ass for manipulative use
of with control of or special access
t.0 "IC Ur 2y ,u(! ,;) rith dan -- to individual and
uu,Lurai i cularly the computer
p()t .1 i,;1 or dras%ica:ly Clanging the present
n, towr1rd Thatory, user-oriented
30 ,3.)
Communication policy is concerned with taking arational look'at communication needs and demands insociety, and the means presently and potentially availablewithin economic practicality to meet those needs, anddevising strategies to bring the needs and means togetherfor the broad benefit of society. And particularly ina society where there is so such private decision-makingon communication matters, policy would be concerned witha decision-making environment of public and privateinterests. Such policy is not intended to make detaileddecisions but is rather designed to create a process forequitable communication decision-making--a process whichincludes the range of community interests. Communicationpolicy interacts with society on all levels and in agreat variety of ways--it is not something apart fromeconomic, social and political policy but is often aninherent part of each. It is distinctive enough, however,for separate attention and formulation. The control anddirection of communication in a community has far-reaching,highly significant consequences.
Shaping Communication Policy for Hawaii
In Hawaii, there are special communicrtion concernsthat arise from the geography of the Islands and the specialblend of peoples who live in the Islands.
More specifically, communication policies of a specialnature seem inherent in at least three major areas:
1. inter-island communication between parts of the
state;2. distant communication with the rest of the
United States and other parts of the world; and
3. intercultural Communication within the community.
It is precisely in these areas, among others, that the
new communication technology is having its most profoundeffects.
Hn.waii in a real sense is part of the Instant World(Instant World, 1971), the world of communication'satellites,computerized and electronic newspapers, submarine cables
and cable television. Hawaii is a link in globalcommunications. Yet developments throughout the state
have been uneven and usually unplanned, at least in apublic interest sense, and there has been little publicinvolvement or participation in the introduction of the
new technologies and what is being done with them, andlittle participatory anticipation of even newer technologies.
31
Hawaii, of c.ourse, has most of the communication'policy questions that mainland states share, and an
overall pell:-% haves to dal with them as well asHawaii's special L.oncerns.
An immediate cnallenge is the distinctiveness of
communication needs in Hawaii.. In these distinctive areasHawaii must generate its own answers to policy questions.Other areas of the United States and the world that havesome of Hawaii's distinctive characteristics may helpprovide some of the answers, and will probably benefitfrom deliberati_ons in Hawaii.
Inter-Island Communication
What are some of the communication policy questions
that arise because Hawaii is a state of islands? What
does it mean to a society to be physically separated by
stretches of ocean? This separation has an importanteffect on the cohesiveness of the society, especiallywhere communication is involved. The importance ofcommunication to community is stressed by a UNESCOexpert, Gunnar Naesselund, and raises questions concern-in: statewide equity in communication access, benefits
and resources. Naesselund said: "Communication is
community. Without it there can be no functioning organizedsociety ... Indeed, a community can extend only as far as
it is possible for its members effectively to transmitInformation, knowledge and ideas to each other. If people
are not in communication, there really can be no substance
to their collective political or social life (Naesselund,
1974).
A pilot study by Daniel Lerner on the Island of Kauai
brings the question home. Lerner examined the effeclsof remoteness on information, and what modern communicationmight do in such situations. He noted that "there is ,
reason to think, for example, that the remote pdpulation
knows its local news as well as the central populace knowstheirs, and al:;(.. ha3 a reasonably good picture,of 'headlinenews' in the nation and world, but lacks some of the detail
and the 'process knowledge' that lies between theh<Jadlirics an' the local informationapplied scispce,workings of government, etc." lie urged, based on his pilot
study, an examtrritIon of people's "feelings of need and
lack of int'ormaflon" (Lerner, 1174.
CUT' .1. be a si-,,IfIcInt factor in several
e of comliunily, political participa-
tion ,1-r! 1.1 ci'pe-sal. A ur))or policy question
i. ,tA, e shonid Ftxtve uo give '!11 residents,
n,) L'ie whe:- t e,:ultd1,10 access to communication
3
service, both public and private. And if so, how willthe cultural diversity of the state be maintained? Thatif some residents do not want such services in theircommunity? The question is: Should communication servicesthroughout the state be of generally the same quality,availability and cost--urban or rural, Oahu or neighborisland?
Political participation in Hawaii is difficult atbest on a state-wide basis because of the cost and timeinvolved in getting to particular state agencies, boards,or even the legislature. New communication technology,'such as two-way cable television, can do much to provideincreased access to government meetings and participationin the political system. Of course, political practiceswould require some changes to open the door to testimonyand observation through telecommunications. Use of tele-communications also could increase participation of thosewith more convenient access to government bodies. Onlyrecently testimony by telephone from the U. S. mainlandWas permitted in federal court irk Honolulu. This couldsignal innovations in other areas.
Population dispersal is another state policy withobvious relationships to communication policy, especiallyas it affects equity of communication services. One meansof reversing trends of rural-urban migration, for example,is to provide or encourage economic development indepressed areas. A great deal of research in developingcountries shows a clear relationship between the growthof the mass media and acceleration of modernization(Frey, 1973).
Another communication strategy in population dispersalcould be to provide many of the amenities, and henceattractions, of urban life to rural areas, through the/use of telecommunication. Goldmark, for example, discussesthe "new rural societies" where urban services are availablethrough telecommunications (Goldmark, 1972). Thecommunication policy questions, of course, are what arethe costs involved and how vigorously should the stateencourage maintenance of and development of adequatecommunication systems to provide such services to non-urban areas?
There are many special concerns, then, that derivefrom Hawaii's archipelagic character. Another specialsituation involves the entire state's remoteness fromthe rest of tIlt world, at least in the geographic sense.
33
3
Mie
t ijd,rant of
LS t of 'y w()-1d.
,iervd by e moi rn su,,marine
cavie not. lie - c
t'cr10 L) - T. -2., w;40th th I n of
mot, of :-tent 'al for '.1teraction
41th toe re:t zoi' ouh tie technology of
col-rimunici-- ,rar-6por,t- :-,e.rves the It
does :;,7) at a .3,1H,tant01 cost. The cost of the first
hour offor example, is
and for =ac" s'ir..3,-111ent hour , which virtually
,xcludes "liv," T-rcp-,rammi- as it U re?ivPd on the:-)sf,3 for vidt-.)tapes c.:In add $15,000
a nonth to telt-v:-1(-1 ...Y.ation costs. And toe (.1c,ot of
,..;,)tting to t 4--:t pace outside '!1, ,aii (the nearest
auout lc; high sy most standards. Mapy
of the "c.,--s" i,-;:lems -in tariffing and regulations,
and are n-)t ne z inherent in the system.
A,; aand resultant ousts
and 1Lp-.1tatiLn; ,7nr1-1.14_cation services enjoyed by most
of the cect c.f Hawaii joins Qttrr areas such
a3'.ntaIrs and frph.lacria in a special
cr).-Icern ov- r 'c'T and policN.(Ivuloped a compilnIcation
ua a hat!--,a_ t,)1: citlze.ns on a
more ,Jr less equAlAmer!cans in domestic
sat Ulte oco a-1 ii:.
hy of HawaII 0#,eness raises many ques-
tions otncr ur.24_ng par o tIe n-LtIonal domestic
. 7lere !J. a Ip-ry and continuing
der!_vatin 'r,,m the ct of getting
news, r.ifsfq,aterial. to Hawaii.
S'any of 1-,)riva''o-1', J-0 :-_,ased mainly o the, costfrom the U. S.
.'
compounded by the";1-ket" f,:' communication
,,,,it-;t. Lou (.,1 -1. ,1,--)sitive
el cov It,--., per-- tp
',. t, ::- , - Jnd
.::.!rvt': ': at ', ,.. Witt the new tech-
no lo:-,1.: ; t:,,, i'.!: Tlf6rmation :.-1(1
7 r,-.1-- -,nrizon, what will. .,1'- -, ',t, oc-.1vity in
,rd ,ntr-rtalument'ft," A; for example.,
, ue a publicand linked
to various sources of information elsewhere in the world,
such as data banks? Given Hawaii's articular situationdf isolation, small market, and high information andentertainment costs, does the state have special respon-
sibilities?
These and other questions directly relating to Hawaii'sphysical isolation from the rest of the world could all'be addressee within a larger framework_of policy, as could
the state's special concern for intercultural communication.
Intercultural Communication
A third special concern in Hawaii involves the role
of communication in a multicultural community. Culture
and communication are intimately linked. Communicationwithin a cultural group is vital for its cohesion and
continuation, and communication between cultural groups
is important for understanding and community peace: and
progress.
When misunderstanding or lack of essential informationoccurs, intentional or otherwise, in interculturalcomm-nication there are likely to be serious societal
problems. This has been starkly evidt in many mainlandcities in the past several years, and ,o a lesser butpersitent degree within the Hawaii community. Recent
state efforts in bicultural educational methods provide
one of many current examples.
Less than 35 years ago a vigorous "Americanization"program was under way ipawaii. Now, cultural diversityis recognized as a heal hy and treasured characteristicof the community, one actively pursued and exploited.
Hawaii, of course, adds an island characteristic tointercultural relations, where strong antagonism between
groups is difficult to sustain. Yet there are very realand potential intercultural difficulties within Hawaii,and effoit.Q continue on a wide front to soften and resolve
the conf4101.ct3.
Communication technology offers one means by which
intercultural relations be improved--through increasedknowledge and understanding of the various groups. There
will always be, of course, real clashes of ,cultural values,
and with them hard-to-resolve differences. "The mass mediatakes as one of its tasks the job of presenting a representa-
tive view of the different groups in the community, and
there is 'federal concern over "fairness" and community
service. Several innovative methods using communicationtecnnology are being tried, such as "videotape letters"
from one group to another.
4
35
rpecial teaioing for in4,ercultural communicators isan area 1.n-lt ;t-:!,:; especially appropriate in Hawaii.
and rYnitorinr of the interculturalcnntent of tl ',110nica4:4en et-ems to de,;ermine itsimpact is another.\
The question of 1FInguar poli0 with so many peoplein the state t: :Teak languages ther than English, isdirectly related to communication and culture. Languageis a carrier of culture, and is intimately entwined with
culture. There are now several examples of publiccommunication in languages other than English, includingbroadcasting and the print media. What are the publicand private respo 'bilities in the non-English communica-tion systems in HL _i?
A particular aspect of intercultural communicationpolicy involves newly arrived people from other cultures,particularly those for whom English is not their native
language. This is a familiar story in the United Statesand in Hawaii but satisfactory ways of easing the cultureshock remain elusive.
;"any of tne current discussions and actions concern-ing "access" to the public communication media involveminority groups who feel they are either being misrepresen-ted by the public media or are not being represented at all.
The questions are many: How are the various cultural-roups in Hawaii being portrayed in the public media, arethey being treated fairly, what possible dangers are there
in inadequate representation, and what else could be done?The role of toe private mass media is very strong here,
but there are also public questions of great importance.
Discussion and Research Alestions
The oree areas of special concern to Hawaii also,over man, of the common areas of communication policyfaced by -ta,e.; and in other parts of the world.:ome are mDujne and obvious and well- settled generally,othe,s tent to he controlled by dr,cisions made in otherpolic/ art,tF and many questi,ns have been little debated
or tr.; disagreements. In he area of socialpolicy an' t.lecommun,cat!ons. for example, one source(English, 11/;) lists buveral common Issues. These are
all Isr:'s of telecommunications'o phy to full cost of the service towill 4- -)v,,rpmPnt povice a subsidy
')/-. 3 '1 high co_ , areas? Or willlr: -1st 'flci, costs to users be found?
1 24
2. Service Availability:" What range of telecommu-nications services should be provided, and towhat proportion of the population?
3. Service Quality: The higher the quality of service,generally, the higher the cost, hence back to thequestion of subsidy.
4. Local Content: On a national level this is amore pressing issue but in Hawaii the questioncan be raised: Is there a threshold for localcontent in the community communication system?
Many of the regulatory functions for telecommunicationare at the federal and international level. This meansState views on these matters should be directed throughthe federal level.
Development of a communication policy for Hawaiiwould take into account a wide range of issues. Underthe general concept of "access" to.public information,for example, there are many daily activii-tes andcontroversies involved. There are such policy questionsas:
o What obligations do public officials have to
respond to questions from the news media, fromindividuals or private groups, from other publicofficials or bodies?
o What documents must be open to the public, and
what are the conditions for restriction of access?
o What public meetings are open, and what are the
conditions for closed sessions?
o What should be the position on access for privatecompanies affected with a public interest,_or when
the state or federal governments give privateinterests a franchise, special privilege, or someform of public subsidy or relief?
Another policy area involving "access," this time to
the public communication media, raises other questions.This is a developing issue in the United States, first
with the broadcast media but now also with the print media,
as is the fairness doctrine in broadcasting. The basicissue is over what individuals and groups under what
conditions have a right of access to the public communica-
tion media.
As a corollary to t r' f access to publicinformation, -T what et ,Ire public bodies responsiblefor determininc, the inmal,:pn needs of citizens, and
, :en positively settin,- to Father such information,and making it a,'ailable in a relatively inexpensive andconveniently usable form?'
In 'an age when the atility to communicate is ofincreasing ia-ortance, what are the broad family, public
and private resp nsibilities to ensure that each personhasia minimal's101 level in communication? Should highschool graduates be expected to be able to read andwrite functionally, as one legislator recently advocated?What are the obligations to provide for specialized infor-matiA and communication training for those who willbecome professional communicators? And here simply readingand writing and special skills may not be enough--in anincreasingly electronic world, there are needs to be
visually literate. Obviously, heavy stress in this arearelates to the public education system's objectives orstandards in teaching these skills.
There are well-established policy areas in the legal
field concerning communication--libel, obscenity, slander,
copyright. One growing area concerns privacy, and this
is especially important with the new technology, andtheincreasing use of computers and links between computers.The ;benefits of vast information gathering and distributionsystems are balanced in some ways by the abuses actual and
possible through manipulation of information. Privacy
was identified by a Hawaii 2000 task force as a majorarea of concern for the coming decades, and is a counter-vailing force in a society where more and more informationabout people .s fed into accessible computers.
Cable television is one of the newer communicationinnovations, one whose potential is seen by many aspractically limitless. Franchises have been awardedthroughout the State, based in part on projections of
user needs and promises tocprovide certain services.Have those promises and hopes been fulfilled? Cable can
provide the two-way interactive characteristic found in
telephones, as well as provide many basic service, asdethIled earl!er in the report. Channels are usuallyreserved for educational broadcasting, and for government
use. In a policy sense, ca!,1- 13 of particular importancebecause of Its two-way capacIty to link the islands
electronically. rale tel-vi:lion represents the latestintroduction of communl-Dn te:lnology, and as such
descry s ';tuiy and attonti on to anticipate its
prit(ntlal it
3B
.
All..11
Policy issues arise in the introduction of newcommunication technologies. Often it has been the tech-nology that has been leading the way with attention to
economic rather than social consequences.
Hawaii has a limited role in controlling the intro-
duction of new communication technologies but it 'could
be a vital role, and there could be input to national andinternational policy in this area.
Policy Development in Hawaii
There'are many current examples of communicationpolicy being developed in Hawaii but there is little in
the way of an overall communication policy. Developmentshave been, as noted above, ad hoc and with little attentionto implications in other areas. There have been a varietyof ways that policy has developed, and is continuing to be
made. A list of specific policy decisions, the contextthey were developed in, and some of their potential implica-
tions are outlined below.
These examples show policy developed through legis-lation, court rulings, state government actions throughfederal agencies, and private business and communityf7roup action.
1
o Domestic satellite system. Hawaii's inclusionin one or more domestic satellite systems is asignificant policy development, and as such would
be a good case study on state-generated policy
.1°
affecting national telecommunication pol cy. One
issue for the future is, are there princi lesinvolved in this case that apply, if at 11, toother\communication media and will the domesticsatellite policies won (albeit ad hoc) by Hawaii
be capitalized on?
o Underwater cable. A corollary to the domesticsatellite case is the recent completion of a thirdunderwater cable to Hawaii from the U. S. Mainland.This choice involved many technical matters, withdiscussion among the common carrier and state andfederal agencies going back several years. The
questions of reliability, costs and capacitiescan overwhelm a layman, and some argue the matteris too complex for broad participatory decision-
makinr. People in Hawaii will be paying for part
of the investment in the third cable--as compared,
say, to he costs of increased use of existing
satellite capacity. Recognizing that there aremany complex technical Ind economic factors and
39 t .)
111111=111
tradeoffs behind decislon for underwatercable, should not a case study of the decision -makinr proces: in this important matter be
valuatile for tnc,.tate? It is argued wit..justification that Hawaii needs both satelliteand cable service, 60 as not to be completelydependent on one system or the other. Thus itis not a matter of cable or satellites--but of
what is the proper mix to serve the users in the
state. nne question quickly becomes, how muchbackup is enough, at what cost, to the peoplewho will be using it and paying for it? And howmuch say can they and will they have in the
decisions?
o Newspaper Preservation Act. This could be a casestudy on how legislative action on the statelevel (also on the national level) affects commu-nication policy. The state determined in 1972that the two Honolulu daily newspapers can, for
the sake of maintaining two separately ownednewspapers and editorial policies, operate in abusiness manner that would otherwise not beacceptable under anti-trust laws. The policyquestion is what, if any, obligations or responsi-bilities do the newspapers acquire for the specialprivilege granted by the legislature? This issuein faCt has been raised in the community and the
1975 Legislature.
o
S4
Campaign Spending Limitation. This law, designedto control election spending, intrudes on freeexpression. One policy implication is that thestate has determined that there are some caseswhere simply having enough money to spend on massmedia messages is not enough, that there shouldbe some communication equity in the electioncontests, at least between those with great amounts
of money and thost with significantly lesser amounts.While this partic lar policy applies only to electioncampai-..s, the principle involved could extend to
other areas of social issues and debate, where oneparticular point of view dominates ,the public mediabocalise It can outspend all other views: At the
national level, "counter-advertising" is case in
point.
o "Sunshin" Cr' Open Meetin,, and Record Laws. This
situation .; particularly interesting because suchlam, were .inught by a wide variety of communityvolunteer -rps, showing another way communicationn,Jitcy con be forme(i. then-current policy on
it)
p
meetings was found to be inadequate by a volunteercommunity group in 1971, and a citizens' effortwas undertaken to change the law, with a "sunshine"bill passing in April 1975. The broader policyimplications of the "sunshine" concept itself, ofcourse, are a more open society with more publicdecision-making in the political area, and moreparticipation-by the public, with wider availabilityof government information to the public. A furtherquestion is, in a practical way, how much is thesociety ,willing to spend in providing information?On the national level, a Freedom of Information Actis still shaking down.
o Press Conferences by Public Officials. Thisexample shows how communication policy can bedeveloped through court action undertaken by thenews media and entered into by community groups.The communication policy question involved is,what obligations are there for officials to respondto news media questions? In a federal judicialdeclaration, the policy in the specific recentincident was that a public official may not dis-criminate among various news media representativeswhen the official holds a news or press conference.
o Public Television. Educational or public televisionplanning goes back at least 15 years in Hawaii, andoffers a good example of policy development over aperiod of time, involving the introduction of a newcommunication system into the state. The questionof funding public television is a current issue in
the state. Access to federal funding and progthnmingalso should be an issue.
o Public Radio. -InIkeStigations are being started todetermine if there is a need for public radio inHawaii, and if so, what are those needs and howcan they be met? Hoj-Aks an institution go aboutdetermining such needs?
Many more examples might be given. In the developmentof communication policy for Hawaii, the earlier and currentcases could yield many insights on policy formation.
Development of a communication policy will requireknowledgeable people, a survey of available research on the
matter, review and case studies ofrexamples, research onthe questions of special concern to Hawaii, and wideinvolvement of people who use the communication systems
and those who provide the servicei A wide range of inputswill--perhaps through a CommunicatiOn Planning Council- -
be needed from academic experts, government officials, and
industry representatives, including common carriers, mass
media, manufacturers, and those in research and development.
Users, both in commercial and public service areas, have
a major role, one which should not be lost in technical
'complexities. There are many dilemmas in developingcommunication policy, but in the "communication era," a
continuation of an ad hoc approach might create more
severe dilemmas and contradictions.
142
I d
hany 13011 plan cormunicationresources for . bt rtii ar,_ identified:
COnnUr T. ta rese e , the
de ve ;IN _Lanny i .
Corruri 1et. Lou s ._; a resource :as a uniluecharacteristic; 4:1C0 cflmmnie ion is cooperative,infor:,tion sharin does not telete or use onthe so ion d information and quite often increasestnat inl'r.mstIon; communicatioq n urces shouldbe aUunda,n, r' tier 0 tri scarce.
Communle,itLon resources used 7,o conserve,
deveicp, 'n ii nanac-e other eosentiai resources;teloco-munica',Ion n. sometimes be used to con-serve tr,in,,ortation; communicati,,n resource:; can
develo-)ment of economic :'esource;communicT,iDn r..ources rre requirei for themana-eo Lnerc.:: and most other resourc:s.
ielow are ii 3t? h-r of t r ,-Dmmunicatin lz3sues
11.1:ely to i_n-,rtm: in
fir
1. cc an L ,:y Ln communication servicethrourThG z- tn ._itate of h:lwaYi? Mould tne residentsof aua, for examplri,, have innere,Lly the same commu-nicati'In ;ervices as te- rcs'_dents of -01u? Is there
a ver] b)licy Uil,; the communication servicesnr)t be
:inoal 1 J b ve eu I access to
e it 07, ni7i 'r , rba'icast
11 hr'try , -em-raph 1 cal bout ien
or abil '
3 :1110all ho,' f)r learinr:
lb Ht. -newal anpli cat i es of
: ra sently , all suchi
,
Coml :un ; cnt
rnrim
b h '
I
resp-i,ns ible
r.,f the ;;Iembers]ttIi effort is
floc
.4(lat communication resources are needed to enhanceHawaii's role\as a center for think industries?
,Who in Hawaii shpuld undertake the necessaryexperimental pilOt projects to demonstrate andevaluate the potentAal of new communication tech-nologies?
7 Should the State of Hawaii require all schools to
train students in a f411 range of communictionskills- -not only listet\ing, speaking, reading andwriting, but also the'ue of cameras, typewriters,video tape, computer terinals and other newertechnologies? How wt]l t ese communication skillsbe tested?
,,. Should public officials assume the responsibility ofproviding alternate means for participation in
public meetings? Room space and transportationconsiderations limit attendance of interested citizens.
`Should the possibility of "telecommunicating" topublic meetings be developed?
Should the State of Hawaii, because of the difficultiesin obtaining information from outside the State, assume
a special responsibility for providing information forthe residents of the State? Should the State subsidizecertain information services? If so, which ones? '
10. Under what conditions, if any, should an individual
or a group have a right of access to public communica-tion media?
11. What are the responsibilities of public officials inproviding information to the public?
12. Who should take the responsibility for exploring thepublic, private sector media, and governmentpriorities for near-term and long-terni communicationimprovement for Hawaii?
13. Should a special "clearing house" for informationabout our communication resources be established?
14. Who should be responsible for planning the fullerutilization of existing but underused communicationresources, for instance, the "extra" channels onciiTV, especially those dedicated to public access,
education and government?
.;ioulA the government encourage the use of public
r1-,11_.1 in Hawaii to enhance ttle cultural solidarity
of minority group::?
. Should the State of Hawaii subsidize the experimentaluses of new communication technology?
17. Should tne State of Hawaii launch its "own" communica-tion satellite or lease satellite channels for "public"
uses?
18. Who in Hawaii should be entrusted to determine ourcommunication needs?
19. How should we determine what our future communicationneeds will he?
20. Should we establish in Hawaii an independentCommunication Council to conduct in-depth studies
on basic issues on communication planning?
Anticipatory Democracy'
In the spirit of Hawaii 2000, a publicdiscussion ofbasic issues on communication planning can help to enable
us to anticipate and plan for the futures we prefer for
Hawaii. For democracy to work well, appropriate communi-
cation resources are required. Naturally, a similarclaim can be made for most other sectors of our community.
It has been our purpose in this paper to sketch a
framework within which basic issues and questions can be
discussed. We look forward to your reactions.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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